Raising the Game

Most would agree that Times Square is the Mecca of out-of-home advertising, what with virtually every building front or window space for several blocks filled with massive, flashy signage. So how do you make window graphics for the Times Square flagship Toys “R” Us stand out from the crowd?

The design teams at Clear Channel Spectracolor and Big Mountain Imaging thought that graphics with a three-dimensional appearance might do the trick. Working with Clear Channel Spectracolor, manager of the advertising space in question, the print shop created window graphics to promote Nintendo Wii Sports Resort featuring a Frisbee “flying” from one side of the building to another.

Big Mountain Imaging received the graphics from an outside design firm, Goodby Silverstein Partners, as FTP files. After the necessary color and scaling corrections were made in the prepress files, the print shop began the final output using its EFI Vutek UltraVu II 5330 and Mutoh ValueJet printer. A Nintendo representative approved the graphics onsite.

The window graphics were printed on Cooley 5600 mesh with the UltraVu using EFI Vutek UV ink, while the Frisbee and the Frisbee “trail” were printed with the shop’s ValueJet. The Frisbee was printed with HP dye-based ink onto Quality Media Universal Satin Photo Paper and finished with Viewbond R pressure-sensitive adhesive. The trail was printed with Triangle solvent ink onto LexJet Flexmark V 400 H Clear V-327 low-tack vinyl. The shop printed 33 panels in all and created the Frisbee in separate sections. The final graphics measured 33-feet high x 160-feet wide for a total of 5280 square feet. Printing took approximately two days. Finishing—which included cutting out the Frisbee graphics with a Zund cutter—also took close to two days.

Big Mountain Imaging shipped the graphics to New York, where they were installed by Toys “R” Us in-house installers in seven hours. The turnaround time of the project was quite impressive for all parties involved as it had to be produced and installed in four days due to the timing of the Wii Sports Resort campaign launch. Printing of the whole project began on a Monday and the install was completed by Thursday night of the same week. While production teams at Big Mountain cite the tight production timeline as the most challenging part of the project, their hard work paid off in the end: The print shop received feedback from Clear Channel that Nintendo was “ecstatic” with the final result of the production, reports James Eby, sales manager with Big Mountain.

In business since 1999, Big Mountain Imaging operates from its two facilities in Philadelphia and Las Vegas. Square footage of the two facilities totals 50,000. In addition to large-format printing services, the shop also offers prepress, in-house design, mounting, laminating, die-cutting, and installation.